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The Hive Queen
The Hive Queen is the twelfth book in the Wings of Fire series, and the second book in the third arc. The book was officially released in the United States on December 26th, 2018, although some people who pre-ordered got the book a day earlier. The front cover was revealed on September 17, 2018. The first chapter can be found here: https://www.hypable.com/hive-queen-wings-of-fire-cover-chapter-1/ The Hive Queen follows The Lost Continent and precedes The Poison Jungle. A considerable portion of the book, including the epilogue, was leaked via a Amazon preview, and sites such as the one above. Summary Growing up in the hives, Cricket has always had a million questions. Why are trees forbidden, even in art? Why do her parents seem to hate her? And the biggest, most dangerous and secret question of all: why is Cricket immune to Queen Wasp’s powers? Whenever the queen takes control of all the HiveWings, speaking through their mouths and seeing through their eyes, Cricket has to hide, terrified of being discovered. Now she's hiding again, wanted for stealing the Book of Clearsight along with her new SilkWing friends, Blue and Swordtail, and the fierce LeafWing, Sundew. The fugitives need answers, and fast, in order to prevent a LeafWing attack. But Cricket has more questions than ever. How can she stay hidden and discover the queen's deadliest secret? And if she does succeed -- can a powerless dragonet really do anything to topple a regime and stop a war? -Amazon Dedication “For Wendy and Fiona, a pair of kind hearted funny bookworms with dragon hearts — Cricket and the bears I think you are Kindred spirits!” Quote on back of Hardcover "You think Blue is going to be useful... for the Leafwings?" Swordtail said in a dangerous voice. "How?" Cricket took an instinctive step closer to the cocoon, as though Blue might sense her protection through the silk. "What do you think he could do?" Sundew flicked her wings back. "He's going to burn down the Hives for us." Plot Prologue The book starts with Moon's POV as she gazes across the ocean with the thought that the sea was the end of the world. She then thinks about Luna and then about Darkstalker and how she thinks it was her fault for trusting him too much and not thinking about the negativity side of him. Moon thinks about Luna the SilkWing. Wanting to help using her visions, she continues to think about Luna and Pantala. Reading the SilkWing's mind about Moon telling her what might happen next and thaving grand ideas of the NightWing's powers, Moon sighs. Thinking that she's having a vision, Luna approaches the NightWing and asks why she's alone to which Moon responds saying that she likes gazing at the moons in which she says hee full name is Moonwatcher. Luna tells her that her name means 'moon' in the old language. Upon seeing Luna's flamesilk, Moon gets surprised and tells Luna about it to which the SilkWing shrugs. Luna then proceeds to ask about Clearsight's changing in the old language later she asks Moon if she's having a vision to which the NightWing declines much to Luna's disappointment. Moon apologizes and Luna answers saying she wants to return back to her sibling, Blue, and Moon states that Qibli would think of something to get her back. Sensing movement behind her, Moon grabs Luna's talons and speaks a prophecy to which silent falls. Tsunami and Turtle arrive with Moon greeting them. Turtle says that his and Anemone's animus magic is broken. Tsunami later tells them all that all they've got to do to get to the lost continent is by swimming there. Part One: The Glittering Hive Cricket is in the cave protecting Blue's cocoon. She has a few flashbacks. In one, she is hiding with a book called The Architecture of the Hives, Expanded Edition-- now with sections on Hydroponics and Silk Bridges that belonged to her mother and she didn't like Cricket touching it (that's why she was hiding in a cupboard), when the HiveWings around her all become controlled by Queen Wasp. At this time though, she does not know they are mind-controlled. This terrifies Cricket, so she peeks outside to see what is happening. The mind-controlled HiveWings are trying to capture a HiveWing who isn't mind-controlled. He is described to have dull scales and looked older as Cricket thinks he could be around the age hundred or sixty. A group of them take him to Wasp Hive. Later that day, Cricket asks Katydid what happened to her and the other HiveWings. Katydid is confused on how Cricket can't be mind-controlled, but tells Cricket that being mind-controlled just feels normal. Katydid promises Cricket that she will not tell anyone that Cricket can't be mind-controlled, (of at least what she tells her). Years after that incident, Katydid had noticed that Cricket's vision was bad and took her to the eye doctor to get her glasses. Her mom is too busy to notice Cricket's poor vision and didn't like her anyway. Another memory is about how Cricket reads forbidden books. Cricket doesn't really like her mom, Cadelle, since she is always grumpy and gets super angry at Cricket when she reads forbidden books or distracts her while she works in her office. She then wishes she had a book to read and wonders if the 'Reading Monkeys' would lend her a book. But realizes they'd have a different language and that her claws would be too big for one. Cricket sighs and stretches her wings. She thinks about the four more days she has to sit in the cave with nothing to read. Cricket thinks she is going to lose her mind. Cricket thinks about when Blue started his Metamorphosis. She had promised to be there when he came out of his cocoon. Cricket starts to hope his friends would will be back by then. She then hears footsteps and the slither of a tail on the floor and realizes someone else is in the caves. The dragon turns out to be Sundew, and Cricket is delighted that she is there, though Sundew does not have the same feeling. Sundew drags an unconscious Swordtail in with her and when he wakes up, he admits that he could not find Luna. Swordtail is covered in seaweed at the moment and is trying to pull it off. Sundew explains she wants Blue to burn down the Hives with his flamesilk when he gets up, but Cricket doesn’t like the idea at all and they bicker for a while. Swordtail then takes Sundew’s side, which makes Cricket miserable. Then Sundew goes off to look for her parents, and Swordtail leaves to search for Luna, and Cricket is left alone. Then the book time skips a little, and we are in the caves, watching Cricket get excited because she thinks Blue is about to come out. Soon after, Blue comes out of his cocoon and they catch him up. Cricket then shares a flashback of when her mother moved away. The group decides to go to Jewel Hive, where they can search for the Chrysalis and blend in easily, which involves some sparkly outfits (Not to Sundew’s pleasure). As they try to get in, Cricket pretends to be an arrogant, selfish HiveWing and sneaks past some guards by “gossiping” with another HiveWing. They find a note that leads them to the Library at midnight, a step closer to finding the Chrysalis. While waiting for midnight, Cricket takes the squad to one of her childish hiding spots, where she finds her sister, Katydid, sneaking into her mother’s house with Lady Scarab, and when Cricket speaks to her, she says that she has no time and the only thing she really says before she leaves is “Cadelle is not your mother. And Father is not your father, either.” Which sends Cricket’s decent world into a tizzy. Part 2: A Trail of Silk Cricket is trying to focus on what "5" meant on the note while she, Blue, Swordtail, and Sundew walked to the library. When they got there, the library doors were locked so they waited a bit to see if the Chrysalis would come. After waiting for some time, Cricket and the others were thinking that the Chrysalis wouldn't come. Cricket began inspecting the Clearsight statue outside of the library. She then noticed that the Clearsight statue had 5 spikes on the back of her head, and on the 5th spike, there was a key. She tested to see if the key could open the library doors, and it worked. While Cricket, Blue, Swordtail, and Sundew walked into the library Sundew grumbled on how many trees were killed to make the library and the books. Cricket quickly replied that the book pages were mostly made of silk. Soon enough, they heard shouting coming from the second floor of the library. They quietly walked into a room with one large window and three Silkwings named Morpho, Tau, and Cinnabar arguing about someone named Argus. Swordtail introduced himself awkwardly after listening to them for a few minutes. Then, he talked about finding Luna and said he had other friends with them. When Blue stepped out of the shadows, all three Chrysalis Silkwings got excited and recognized him from the Wanted posters. Blue explained that a nice Hivewing named Cricket helped him escape, and motioned Cricket to come out. However, when the Chrysalis saw her, they screamed and hilariously covered their faces with pillows and blankets. Cricket tried to explain that she couldn't be mind controlled and she was a good Hivewing, but Morpho was still suspicious. Finally, Sundew came out, with the Chrysalis Silkwings bulge-eyed and wide-mouthed, said that she had an army prepared for them to help their cause. After the Silkwings came over their shock and Sundew explained a few things, Morpho immeadiately said that he would ally with Sundew and the Leafwings to destroy the Hivewings. This shocked Tau, Cinnabar, Cricket, and Blue who didn't want to burn the Hives. Throughout the conversation, Cricket saw silver flashes coming through the window, but thought it was nothing. She turned to see what it was, and it was a reflection of the armor HiveWing soldiers wore. Suddenly Sundew, shushed the dragons, and Cricket could hear a faint jingling as if someone was trying to find the right keys to unlock the library door. Sundew quickly asked Cricket if she had a hiding place in the library since Cricket always tried to find a place to hide while Queen Wasp was controlling the other HiveWings. Cricket led the Chrysalis and her friends to the first floor of the library, and was surprised that the Chrysalis trusted her enough to follow her. She showed the dragons book drops in which dragons put their returned books in. Tau and Cinnabar got into one, Swordtail and Morpho into another one, Blue and Cricket in the next, and Sundew hid alone in the last one. Just as Sundew shut all the doors of the book drops, the key clicked and the door opened. Queen Wasp was talking through the mind of one Hivewing soldier, but she didn't control the other ones. She told them to search every corner of the library. However, the HiveWing soldier couldn't find Cricket's friends and the Chrysalis. This angered Queen Wasp who knew she saw dragons in the library, and threatened to kill the soldiers and burn all the books in the library. Cricket was terrified and was thinking of turning herself in because she thought she wasn't as important as Blue or Sundew. Just when the HiveWing soldiers were about to start the fire, Tau and Cinnabar leaped out of their hiding places. Cinnabar made up a story on how she and Tau were hiding from Lady Jewel because she wanted the SilkWings to do their chores, but Tau and Cinnabar wanted to read books, so they sneaked into the library at night to read some books. Queen Wasp asked if anyone else was with them, and Tau lied by saying, "No one, your Majesty." Queen Wasp said she saw blue wings, and Cinnabar instantly replied that her cousin, Morpho, had come earlier to scold them. Queen Wasp was satisfied by this answer, and Cricket could hear talonsteps walking out of the library. However, Cricket decided to not come out yet. A few minutes later, a HiveWing soldier came back into the library and told Queen Wasp-controlled HiveWing that they think Lady Scarab was hiding a dragon. Queen Wasp said they should, "...pay Lady Scarab a visit," and with that, they left. Cricket immeadiatly got out of her hiding spot, knowing that Queen Wasp was going to find Katydid, but Sundew said it was a really bad idea since Cricket would never make it in time. However, Cricket stubornly replied that she was going anyway, so Blue volunteered to go with her, which made Sundew want to come, too. Swordtail and Morpho got out of their hiding place, and Morpho said he needed to go back home or his dad would worry. Sundew said that when he goes back home, he needs to tell everyone in the Jewel Hive Chrysalis ( 4 of them didn't come to the meeting) to meet her at the farthest stall at the Glitterbaazar at noon. When Sundew, Cricket, and Blue reached the street where Lady Scarab's mansion was, they could her Queen Wasp ordering Lady Scarab to open the door. The trio tried to blend into a party near Lady Scarab's mansion while listening to what Queen Wasp was saying. Lady Scarab finally opened the door, but she looked angry. A few of the dragons in the party were thinking Lady Scarab would use her smelly HiveWing power, and edged away. Lady Scarab said that she didn't have the dragon Queen Wasp was looking for( Cricket). Cricket figured out that Lady Scarab couldn't be mind-controlled since she was putting up a fight. Lady Scarab still denied Wasp access to her house and the dragon she was keeping there. This angered Queen Wasp, and she now started controlling all the Hivewing's minds. Lady Scarab used her odor power, which was even more powerful and unbearable then the other times she used it. Katydid finally woke up and told Lady Scarab she didn't want to get her in trouble. Since Queen Wasp found out the identity of the dragon, she controlled Katydid's mind and marched her and her soldiers away. Cricket approached Scarab's mansion, and begged Lady Scarab to let her in. Scarab grumbled about Cricket, but let her in. Cricket told her that she had a few questions. First, Cricket asked if Scarab knew why she couldn't be mind-controlled. Surprisingly, Lady Scarab didn't know either, so Cricket said that she might be half Silkwing. However, Lady Scarab said that Cricket was wrong and told her that her real mother was Katydid. Her real father was actually Lady Scarab's secretary, Malachite, and told Cricket that Malachite gave her hope for the future with his brilliant ideas and talent. Unfortunately, Queen Wasp saw how Malachite made Lady Scarab happy, but the queen wanted to hurt Scarab in any way possible, so she forbid Malachite's marriage with the dragon he loved, Katydid. Soon enough, Queen Wasp mind-controlled Malachite, and Lady Scarab never saw him again. When Katydid was with egg, Lady Scarab helped her devise a plan. It took a lot of persuasion with Cadelle, but she finally gave in. Lady Scarab wrote on the birth certificate and other legal papers that Cadelle was Cricket's mother. Cricket feared that she would never she Katydid again, and Queen Wasp would do the same thing to Katydid as with Malachite. This angered Cricket, and she devised a plan. All she needed was to borrow one of Lady Scarab's paintbrushes... Part 3: The Queen's Secrets Cricket, Blue, Swordtail and Sundew journey to the Jewel Hive. They manage to blend in even though they are wanted fugitives. Cricket learns that Katydid is actually her mother and not her sister. She also learns that the reason she can’t be mind controlled is because Queen Wasp injects venom from a stinger from her tail into all the unhatched HiveWings so that they are linked to her mind and so she can control them once they hatch. When Katydid put Cricket’s egg in the hatchery, not knowing that Queen Wasp traced marks to show that she injected each egg, she traced the marks herself making Queen Wasp think that Cricket was injected. Cricket saved an orphan egg before it was injected and named her Bumblebee. Then they burn down Queen Wasp's greenhouse when they discover that a plant that grows in the greenhouse is the source of Queen Wasp's injection ability. After that, the group decides to go to the Poison Jungle to meet the LeafWings. Epilogue Tsunami and Turtle go through a tiresome journey to reach Pantala. They land in the Poison Jungle and get saved from a large snake by a LeafWing. The LeafWing tells the SeaWings that her name is Willow, but afterward immediately tells Turtle and Tsunami to go back or they will get killed. Back on Pyrrhia, Luna asks Moon if she found a way to get to Pantala themselves. Moon says not to worry because the Pantalan dragons are coming to them. Trivia * This is the first book to have a HiveWing PoV. * This book confirms the whereabouts of the LeafWings: The Poison Jungle. * This book also reveals Lady Jewel is Queen Wasp's Cousin, and Lady Scarab is Queen Wasp's Aunt. * This book is the shortest book in the series so far, having only 286 pages. * It also debunks the theory that Cricket is royalty. Gallery THQ Cover.jpg|Final front cover THQ Prefinal Cover.jpg|Prefinal cover AudioBook12.jpg|Audiobook cover Book12Placeholder.jpg|Scholastic's placeholder cover AudioBook12Placeholder.jpg|Audiobook placeholder Hive Queen back cover.jpg|The back of the cover from Amazon's preview THQ_Full-Jacket_Make.png|Temporary photoshopped full cover by Nathia Safira added by Blue the SilkWing THQ Front Cover GIF Scholastic.gif|From here! IMG_4561.jpg|The opened map given in the Barnes & Noble's special edition of The Hive Queen IMG_8880.jpg|Hardcover for The Hive Queen taken by Blue the SilkWing|link=https://wingsoffire.fandom.com/wiki/User:Blue_the_SilkWing References de:The Hive Queen fr:The Hive Queen ru:Королева улья Category:Books Category:Third Arc Category:Mainstream Series